Honestly, looking back at Mortal Kombat X characters feels like opening a time capsule from a period where NetherRealm was just absolutely unhinged with their design choices. This game didn't just have a roster; it had a laboratory. It was the first time we saw the "Variation" system, which basically meant every single fighter was actually three different fighters in a trench coat. If you played the game at launch, you remember the chaos. If you’re coming back to it now in 2026, the meta has settled into something fascinatingly weird.
People always talk about the "Kombat Kids"—Cassie Cage, Jacqui Briggs, Takeda, and Kung Jin—like they were just filler. But they actually fundamentally changed how the game played. They weren't just legacy clones. They were aggressive, high-pressure monsters.
Why the Variations Changed Everything
Before MKX, you picked Scorpion and you knew exactly what Scorpion did. In this game? Not so much. You had to worry about whether you were fighting "Ninjutsu" Scorpion with his dual swords or "Hellfire" Scorpion who could cancel his teleports into some of the most frustrating pressure sequences in fighting game history.
It was a balancing nightmare.
NetherRealm essentially tripled their workload. Some characters, like Triborg, were actually four characters because of a hidden fourth variation. It made the Mortal Kombat X characters roster feel much larger than its face value of 33 fighters. You weren't just learning a matchup; you were learning three versions of every matchup.
The New Blood: Breaking the Mold
The newcomers in this game were bold. D'Vorah is still one of the most uniquely unsettling designs they've ever done. She wasn't just another ninja or sorcerer. She was a hive-mind insect queen. In the competitive scene, her "Swarm Queen" variation became legendary for its ability to lock people down with setups that felt almost unfair.
Then you have Erron Black.
Basically a cowboy who wandered into a wizard fight.
He shouldn't have worked, but he did. His "Outlaw" variation, specifically that sand grenade and the command grab, made him a staple in tournament top-8s for years. It’s that mix of classic MK weirdness and modern archetype design that keeps these characters relevant even when we have MK11 and MK1 (2023) on the shelves.
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The DLC Guest Character Experiment
We have to talk about the guests. MKX went full 80s horror movie, and it was glorious. Jason Voorhees, the Predator, the Alien (Xenomorph), and Leatherface.
A lot of purists hated this at the time. They felt it took slots away from classic characters like Noob Saibot or Rain. But honestly? The guest characters in this game were some of the best-integrated fighters in the series. The Xenomorph, for example, used a Tarkatan host (Baraka) so it could keep a "Mortal Kombat" feel with its arm blades.
Jason was a tank.
If you played "Unstoppable" Jason, you literally had a resurrection mechanic. You’d "kill" him, and he’d just stand back up with a bit of health while the screen turned red. It was terrifying to play against and perfectly captured the vibe of the Friday the 13th films.
What People Get Wrong About the Tier List
If you Google "best Mortal Kombat X characters," you’ll see a lot of old lists from 2015. Most of them are wrong now.
For a long time, everyone thought Alien (Acidic) was the undisputed god of the game. And yeah, at one point, it was. But after the final patches, the meta shifted. Characters like Mileena (Ethereal) and Shinnok (Imposter) became the real threats at high levels.
Mileena in MKX was perhaps her most "feral" version. Her "Piercing" variation gave her amazing range, but "Ethereal" allowed her to teleport-fade, making her one of the hardest characters to pin down. It wasn't about raw damage anymore; it was about who could break the game’s mechanics the hardest.
The "Dead" Characters Who Weren't
A weird quirk of the MKX roster was the Revenants.
Because the story jumped 20 years into the future, many fan favorites like Liu Kang, Kitana, and Kung Lao were technically dead/evil. This led to some "mournful" variations. Kitana, for instance, had a variation where she used Jade's staff and glaive because Jade wasn't in the game. It was a bittersweet way to keep a legacy moveset alive while respecting the lore.
- Takeda Takahashi: Easily the most complex of the new generation. His whips had incredible range, but his "Ronin" variation used dual plasma swords that you could "drop" on the stage as traps.
- Kotal Kahn: The new Emperor of Outworld. He played like a "grappler/bruiser" hybrid. He could literally summon a sunbeam to heal himself or burn the opponent.
- Kung Jin: His "Bojutsu" variation was notorious for having some of the easiest, high-damage combos for beginners.
How to Actually Play MKX Today
If you’re picking up the game now, don’t just stick to the ninjas. The beauty of the Mortal Kombat X characters is in the weirder picks.
Try Tremor.
He was a deep-cut character from the "Special Forces" game that everyone forgot about, but in MKX, he became a geological powerhouse. He can switch between different "skins" (Crystalline, Metallic, Aftershock) mid-match or per variation, changing how his projectiles work.
The execution floor for MKX is much higher than MK11. It’s a faster game. There’s a run button. If you aren't using the run button to cancel your strings, you aren't really playing the game.
Actionable Tips for Mastering the Roster
- Ignore the "Tier Lists" for now: Most characters are viable in casual and mid-level play. Pick someone whose "Variation" gimmick clicks with you.
- Learn the Run Cancels: This is the "secret sauce" of MKX. Many characters, like Johnny Cage (A-List), require run cancels to perform their most optimal combos.
- Abuse the Interactables: MKX stages are filled with things to throw or jump off of. In a game this fast, positioning is everything.
- Watch the "Old Gods": Look up old tournament footage of SonicFox (Erron Black/Alien) or Dragon (Tanya). You'll see how the characters were meant to be pushed to their limits.
The roster of MKX remains a high-water mark for creativity in the series. It was gritty, it was fast, and it took risks with its characters that we haven't quite seen since. Whether you're playing as a classic like Sub-Zero or a newcomer like Ferra/Torr, there's a depth there that rewards hours of labbing in the training room.
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Grab a controller, head into the Krypt to unlock some secondary Fatalities, and start practicing those run cancels. The skill ceiling is high, but the payoff for landing a 40% combo with a character you've truly mastered is unmatched in the franchise.